travel

Growth often happens outside of our comfort zone, and I have found this to be especially true when on the road. Being away from home in a foreign environment often means being physically, mentally and emotionally challenged in different ways to what we’re used to. Travelling therefore offers a valuable opportunity to propel us further along the path of self-discovery. 

Travel boosts your brain

Being in a completely new environment, surrounded by unfamiliar faces and trying to find your way around forces you to think and act differently. After all, autopilot doesn’t work when all the parameters have changed – you cannot simply rely on the well-trodden neural pathways you’ve always relied on back home. Travelling disrupts your usual habits and patterns, which is great news for your self-discovery journey. When you combine that with all the mental arithmetic you do when calculating how much something costs in your own currency and the effort required to learn some basic phrases in the local language, you’ve got some serious brain training going on.

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Gratitude for life at home

When you’re in a foreign country, the chances are you’ll be confronted with all kinds of new ways of doing things. Being immersed in another culture gives us extra insight into our own, and we may be compelled to reflect on various aspects of our lives, both on a collective (cultural) level and an individual one. In my own experience, returning from a trip has often come with an increased appreciation of specific aspects of the country I live in. Not only does travel make you more open-minded as you develop a better understanding of other people, it can also make you feel more grateful about life at home by forcing you to see things from a new perspective.

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Inspiring positive changes

Being grateful does not mean you cease looking for ways to make further improvements to your life. Exploring the wider world can open our eyes to what is possible. For example, while travelling through Brazil, I was amazed at how warm and open people were, how much they smiled at each other and how tactile they were. It felt so natural and right, and so I was inspired to infuse some of this energy into my life back at home. And while on a work exchange in France, I saw how seriously these people took their lunch breaks. Instead of quickly stuffing sandwiches into their mouths, they would sit down for at least an hour to eat a nourishing three-course meal. I resolved to put more effort into my lunches back at home and this had the knock-on effect of inspiring some colleagues to do the same. Immersing ourselves in other cultures causes us to question our own and perhaps even take steps to change it.

Time for self-care practices

Travelling also gives you the chance to slow down. The responsibilities of work and home-making have been left behind, meaning you can devote extra time to yourself. It can be tempting to fill the days with fun activities, but it’s worthwhile scheduling in a good amount of rest. This is an opportunity to do some meditation, journaling or any other self-care practice you enjoy. Through meditation, for example, you can quieten the mind and get closer to who you are beyond all your thoughts, to your essence. And by journaling you can connect to your creative energy and come to a deeper understanding of life by putting feelings and emotions into words. Both are great tools to help you along the path of self-discovery while travelling.

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Connecting with our inner child

Simply being in a foreign environment can induce a child-like state in us. You can probably recall a time when you were discovering a new destination when your mouth was wide open in wonderment at everything around you as you experienced life in that moment as new and exciting. To be in that child-like state is nourishing to the soul. Part of the journey of self-discovery as an adult is connecting to our inner child. That little girl or boy is still inside of us and yearns to be seen. One of the ways we can connect to our inner child is to engage in play – something we have more time for and which seems to come more easily when we are travelling. We typically feel fewer inhibitions, and so allowing ourselves to be a bit silly, play, sing and dance is met with less resistance. So go ahead and dance on the street with the locals, join in with karaoke even though you’d never do it at home and just be spontaneous.

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Travel helps us Overcome fears

Another important step in becoming a well-integrated human is being able to face our fears. And travelling often presents plenty of opportunities to do just that. At home, it’s much easier for us to avoid the things that scare us as we just go through the motions of our trusted routines. But in new places and surrounded by new people, we’re likely to have to face what we’re scared of. That could look like wanting a visit a waterfall that can only be reached by climbing some steep slopes while having a fear of heights. Or perhaps you’re a traveller on a shoestring budget who needs to sleep in hostels to save money but who would usually avoid having to socialise with strangers at all costs. Sometimes, there’s just no way around facing your fears. And exposure is actually the best way to overcome them! Worldpackers has some great resources on overcoming the fears that may be keeping you from travelling. 

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Feeling inspired to travel? Take a look at this page for inspiration!